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The blog for Global Call Forwarding has articles on the latest customer service trends, telecommunications technologies, and business news.
outbound strategy
21st July 2020 blog, Call Management

11 Tips to Improve Your Outbound Calls Strategy

Customer Success
16th July 2020 blog, Customer Service

What is Customer Success?

first call resolution
15th July 2020 blog, Customer Service

What is First Call Resolution?

UIFN - Universal International Freephone Number
13th July 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

What is a Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN)?

Set up a Virtual Phone System
9th July 2020 blog, Cloud Telephony

How to Set up a Virtual Phone System?

how to do product demo
30th June 2020 blog, Business Insights

5 Ways on How to Do a Winning Product Demo

44 industries that need great customer support
29th June 2020 blog, Customer Service

44 Industries That Need Great Customer Support (2025)

best customer service examples
25th June 2020 blog, Customer Service

9 Best Customer Service Examples for 2025

get people to buy product
25th June 2020 blog, Business Insights

6 Ways to Get People to Buy Your Product

11 Tips to Improve Your Outbound Calls Strategy

21st July 2020 blog, Call Management

Are your outbound calls not making enough sales? You may need to rethink your strategies and implement new ones. Here are 11 tips to improve your outbound calling strategy and generate more leads.

11 Proven Tips to Improve Your Outbound Calls Strategy

Outbound calls are outgoing calls made from a company to its customers, vendors, and business partners. During outbound calls, agents or representatives call a list of promising leads or prospects and encourage them to make a purchase or sign up for a service.

Some common reasons for outbound calling are:

  • To increase brand awareness and visibility
  • Proactive approaches such as checking in with customers, setting upcoming appointments, following up on recent purchases or abandoned carts, etc.
  • Offering customer success services where you and customers or clients together work towards a goal
  • Verify or activate accounts
  • Send out reminders for upcoming payments or renewals
  • Collect feedback or conduct market research, to name a few

Outbound calls are sometimes known as cold calls, which are frequently used for sales, telemarketing, customer success, and more. However, cold calling is difficult because most customers are not prepared for your pitch.

So what can you do to grab their attention more effectively? Here are 11 useful tips to improve your outbound calling strategy.

1. Set Realistic Goals: Identify KPIs

First, it is important to set reasonable goals and share these with your teams. These goals and milestones can be modified as your business grows and new factors come into play. Make sure everyone understands what the goals are and how to achieve them. For example, are outbound calls meant to survey prospects or make a sale? How many sales should be made per month or per quarter? And so on.

Additionally, you want to identify relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can measure employee performance. Common KPIs associated with outbound and sales calls are:

  1. Average Handle Time: Length of calls in relation to the total number of calls. Longer handling times may indicate difficulty in closing, poor persuasion skills, or insufficient product knowledge.
  2. First Call Resolution: Number of calls resolved on the first call in relation to the total number of calls. High first call resolution indicates that agents are doing well and are able to sell effectively without wasting time.
  3. Conversion Rate: Number of sales in relation to the total number of calls. A low conversion rate means that not enough sales are being made and the outbound calling strategy needs more work.
  4. Occupancy Rate: Time agents are spending on calls in relation to the amount of unavailable time spent. A low rate for an agent or rep means that they are struggling with post-call work.

2. Create the Ideal Call List

This goes without saying but if you are not targeting the right audience and demographic for your business, you won’t make great sales. Therefore, creating the perfect list can impact how well your business performs. Conduct market research and allow collaboration between marketing and sales teams so that together they can work on ideal buyer personas for your product. Then, develop a promising list that agents can pursue and generate more sales with.

3. Get an Outbound Calling Service

Consider getting an outbound calling solution to support your local and international outbound calls. With a web dialer, your call center agent can quickly place calls from a computer and log important call notes.

Additionally, they can contact long-distance clients and display local area codes instead of international ones. Individuals are more likely to answer recognizable or local numbers instead of random, unknown ones.

4. Train Your Phone Sales Reps

Part of ensuring your phone sales reps are doing their jobs well is training them to do them correctly. Train and re-train agents to highlight and refresh best practices that they should imitate. Sit in on calls or record calls and review them to offer advice on proper and ineffective strategies. Refer to experts and webinars for more useful and modern sales development training tactics that outbound call center agents can use.

5. Collaborate with Marketing

Your marketing team has a good idea of how to sell to audiences. And your sales team knows who this audience is. Putting these two teams together can help you gain a bigger picture of your target audience and how to appeal to them.

6. Pay Attention to Your Prospect

Most agents dominate the call trying hard to make their pitch and sale. However, in order to gain their attention, you need to engage the prospect. Listen to them, pay attention to their needs, concerns, and issues. And adapt your pitch to make it flexible, allowing you to customize its relevance. This is much more useful as opposed to a stock script. Make them feel valued as individuals and not merely as another conquest in your sales job.

7. Study. Analyze. Optimize

Next, study your processes, responses, and agent performance. Use the KPIs and other metrics to track how your call center or business is performing. Analyze call tracking metrics to boost inside sales revenue.

8. Identify the Best Calling Times

Another factor worth paying attention to is the best time of day to call prospects. Most experts suggest that Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to call prospects. This is because they are not preoccupied with the upcoming week or getting ready for the weekend. Additionally, calling between 11 am and 1 pm or 4 pm and 5 pm is preferable instead of early morning or during the pre- or post-work commute.

9. Consider Outbound Calling Tools

As mentioned before, consider outbound calling tools such as a call center dialer, CRM, and customizable caller ID to boost your success rate. These tools make it easy and even automate processes to a certain degree which can make placing calls and closing deals faster.

10. Simplify the Process

Make it easy for prospects to understand your brand and product, find more information, and make the purchase. Only offer information that is necessary and relevant. Overstatement and technical jargon can put customers off.

11. Record and Review Interactions

It can be very helpful to see how your employees are interacting with customers. Use a call recording software to review calls and pay attention to customer preferences, behaviors, and more. This will give you insights into what aspects of your product or service are most and least successful. Based on that information, you can create better products and services and improve customer care.
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What is Customer Success?

16th July 2020 blog, Customer Service

If customer retention and churn are a problem for your business, then you need to up your customer success game. Here’s an in-depth guide to customer success and how to improve your strategy.

What is Customer Success?

Customer success refers to the process of providing proactive customer support and service. This includes anticipating potential challenges or issues faced by customers and reaching out to them beforehand to resolve those concerns.

With customer success, the chief customer officer can work closely with customers to improve customer satisfaction and boost relations. By doing so, your business can increase customer loyalty and retention. After all, who doesn’t want to work with a business that takes the time and effort to care for its customers?

Customer Success and Customer Support

To execute good customer success strategies, it is first important to understand the differences between customer support and success. Here is a table highlighting key points:

Customer Success Customer Support
1. Type of approach Proactive approach; reach out to customers before they reach out to you Reactive approach; provide support when a customer connects with you over an issue
2. Duration of interaction Long-term interactions; you work with the customer closely over a longer period of time Shorter interactions; you work with the customer to provide immediate solutions to a problem
3. Teams responsible Team collaboration between sales, marketing, support, product development, etc Operated solely by the customer support or service team
4. Metrics to measure Customer satisfaction, customer retention, customer health, customer lifetime value, etc Customer satisfaction, number of cases and tickets issued, first call resolution rates, hold time, average handle time, etc
5. Tasks to accomplish Improve customer experience, upsells, cross-sells, etc Technical support, knowledge base and guides, resolve tickets, etc.
6. Discover Areas of opportunity Problem areas
7. Ultimate goal To ensure a successful customer lifetime value To react and quickly solve issues

6 Proven Ways to Improve Your Customer Success Strategy

Any company that has customers and depends on customer satisfaction must invest in customer success managers. Being in the service industry, you will notice that it is harder and more expensive to acquire new customers. It is much cheaper and healthier, instead, to retain your current ones by taking care of them. These happy customers, in turn, will make good recommendations and advocate for your service.

1. Increase Brand Awareness
Work on brand visibility to make your brand a real thing for customers. An updated website and social media accounts, stats and valid data, attractive design, and user experience are a few ways to grab customer attention. Use your marketing team to improve the way customers and potential prospects see your brand and interact with it whether online (through social media, your website, web forms, product demos, content marketing) or offline (exhibitions, stores, advertising platforms).

2. Create Buyer Personas
Your marketing and sales team must collaborate to create ideal buyer personas for your product so your targeting efforts don’t go to waste. When developing buyer personas consider these questions:

  • Who are you trying to reach?
  • Factors or demographics are important to your persona: their budget, age range, income, location, purchasing power, etc.
  • What does your persona value?
  • Which problems are you trying to help your persona solve?
  • What content or information will catch your persona’s attention?

3. Provide Educational and Informative Content About Your Product
Use your website, emails, and social media accounts to provide your viewers with information:

  • About your product
  • How it is used
  • What issues or problems it can solve
  • How other businesses have used the product, etc.

The point is to demonstrate your expertise in the field and highlight your product or service’s successes. Maintain an updated website, highlight interviews, customer testimonials, blog posts, etc. Use common terms, avoid overwhelming technical jargon, and make knowledge bases or guides accessible. All of this will help solidify your business’ credibility, making customers trust it more. Educating customers makes your product or service more user-friendly, thereby improving the customer experience.

4. Provide Guided Onboarding
Spend extra time and energy on onboarding new customers. Guide them through the beginning of their journey with your service so they clearly understand how processes work and where they can find help. Once they are well-settled, make yourself available and reachable for initial issues that may turn up. Then, gradually move to automation and alerting so customers become more independent.

5. Offer Customer Support
Whether it is email, phone calls, live chat, or trouble tickets, your customer support team should be easy to contact. Additionally, you must equip your team with resources for quick resolution such as guides, etc. Make your business available 24/7 for customer support. You can do so by forwarding calls to other office locations or remote offices or using an IVR system to help with common issues and troubleshooting support.

6. Work to Improve Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty means that for your customer, your business is “the one.” They will not look for another service or product to replace you. This is crucial to customer retention because a loyal customer will recommend your service to others and bring in more business.

Are You Ready to Build Successful Relationships With Your Customers?

Customer success is important as it can help your business build strong and meaningful customer relations. If your business needs to increase its customer retention rates, then it’s time to start offering more proactive global customer support today!

What is First Call Resolution?

15th July 2020 blog, Customer Service

Waiting hours and, sometimes, days to fix a problem that is central to one’s business or day-to-day life can be disheartening. And you do not want to disappoint your customers. Because . . .

Disappointed customers do not become recurring customers.

Disappointed customers do not feel loyalty to your brand.

Disappointed customers go to your competitor.

As a business, your primary goal should be creating good and useful products and assisting your customers in using those products and services. This also involves making it quick and easy for them to resolve issues related to product purchase and use. That’s where first call resolution (FCR) comes into play.

First call resolution directly impacts customer satisfaction and retention. It is being able to resolve customer concerns in one call or one contact. Therefore, your business or call center measure and track this KPI regularly. Here is a guide that will help you understand the importance of one call resolution and how to measure and improve FCR rates for your business.

What is First Call Resolution?

First call resolution means resolving customer questions or issues in the first call itself and an FCR rate measures a call center or business’ ability to resolve customer calls when they first call. In other words, customers who call to resolve a problem or inquire about a product are helped during the first call with no follow-up calls or emails are required. Resolving calls quickly like this does not mean reducing the quality of customer service. Instead, your teams work to resolve and close common customer issues within one call to make room for more complex issues while keeping customers satisfied with quick resolutions.

One call resolution or FCR is an essential call center KPI or metric. Most customer relationship management or CRM systems include this metric among others.

Another similar metric is the first contact resolution rate. This metric not only measures one call resolution but other support channels as well such as chat, tickets, and emails. By keeping an eye on these channels as well, you can aim to improve support across all support channels.

Why Should Your Contact Center Measure FCR?

When customers contact your company regarding an issue or product, they expect to have an answer quickly. The longer they have to wait to resolve a concern or question, the more likely they will find a different company that provides faster service and quicker solutions. Customer satisfaction (CSAT scores) drives brand loyalty and customer retention rates. Good first call resolution rates can improve customer satisfaction and help you keep your loyal and valued customers close.

Furthermore, this metric also helps you measure the efficiency of your employees or agents. For instance, how quickly can agents resolve a call? How much time is spent on resolving issues? Do they spend more time with follow-ups with the same customers or are they able to attend to others as well?

Calculating first call resolution can give you insights into how your business is performing in terms of customer satisfaction. The higher the FCR rates, the higher your customer satisfaction scores. For any contact center or business, the goal remains: achieving high first call resolution rates and low talk time.

Related: 7 Types of Customer Complaints & How to Resolve Them

How to Measure First Call Resolution?

FCR is commonly measured as the total number of calls resolved on the first call divided by the total number of calls received during a certain period of time.

When measuring first call resolution, you may want to consider the following criteria or factors that could affect this score:

  • What does “sufficiently resolved” mean? Is it only when a customer’s issue is resolved? Or does customer satisfaction count as well?
  • Does a callback include agents following up with callers via chat, SMS, or email?
  • Will FCR include calls handled by your IVR?
  • What about calls abandoned calls due to confusing IVR, long wait times, etc.?
  • Will a caller reaching the wrong department be included?
  • What about a call where a manager was conferenced in or that was transferred to a colleague?

Make sure you clearly define what FCR is and how it will be measured so that your agents and employees are prepared.

First Call Resolution
Source: DepositPhotos.com – Lic#153705050 ID#27446420

8 First Call Resolution Tips for Your Call Center

There are a few different ways to improve your contact center or business’ FCR rates:

1. Set realistic goals: Define what FCR is and ensure your agents and employees understand the importance of good FCR rates and show to achieve them.

2. Train agents: Train call center employees to meet your company’s standards and mission. Use a call recording service to highlight strengths and weaknesses.

3. Conduct performance analysis regularly: Review employee performance and efficiency by sitting in on calls or reviewing recordings.

4. Identify common customer questions and issues: The fastest way to help customers is to be prepared for issues or concerns that may arise while using your product or service. Identify common issues and train agents to quickly resolve.

5. Develop an easy-to-follow knowledge base or guide: Provide employees with a knowledge base or guide that can help them help customers efficiently.

6. Track FCR on all communication channels: If you communicate with clients via phone, email, live chat, social media, etc., ensure that you track FCR rates on all these channels. A low rate on other channels can bring your overall FCR rate down.

7. Develop incentive programs and rewards for employees: Give employees good reasons to do their job well so they work harder to resolve calls on the first try.

8. Set customer expectations: Create better caller experiences by reducing wait times, employing an effective IVR system, etc.

Your 3-Step Plan to Improve FCR

To improve one call resolution, you and your team first need to understand what type of issues do customers call to resolve and which issues take longer to resolve.  Once you identify issues that need 2-3 rounds of support to reach resolution, you can create plans that agents can use to reduce the resolution time. Here is a 3-step plan to improve first call resolution rates in your

1. Analyze Support Channels

Gather information from all support channels that needed more than one interaction to be resolved. Look at call records, chat history, email threads, and delayed tickets and analyze patterns and issues that occur repeatedly.

2. Prepare Action Plans and Resources

Once you’ve identified the main issues customers call to resolve, you can create resolution plans for those issues and patterns. This may include:

  • Sending the customer a how-to guide
  • Conferencing with a team or product expert
  • Letting the customer know the issue will take a few days to resolve and explaining why so that they understand
  • Adding new or temporary solutions and features to quickly resolve the issue
  • Finding new suppliers and vendors
  • Create a support center with documents and how-to guides for agents to use
  • Updating your product or service, and so on.

3. Train Your Support Team

Finally, train your agents to collect the right information during calls and provide the most appropriate solution. Encourage agents to collaborate with senior colleagues on complex cases through call conferencing tools and features. Provide agents with resources and materials to equip them with the solutions customers are looking for. You may even invest in software and tech that centralizes customer data and past interactions so that agents can review how other agents have handled similar issues and update records.

Improve First Call Resolution to Boost Customer Loyalty

Can call analytics help you gain better insights into FCR and how your business is doing to see where you can improve? Start measuring first call resolution today and secure your valued customers!

What is a Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN)?

13th July 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Do you have customers in different parts of the world and are struggling to maintain unified communications? In this guide, we share everything there is to know about a UIFN or universal international freephone number.

What is a UIFN? Everything You Need to Know

A Universal International Freephone Number, also known as UIFN, is a unique type of international toll free number that can be dialed the same across 60 different countries. These numbers enable customers to receive a single freephone number for multiple countries. The UIFN program is administered by the International Telecommunication Union.

Get UIFN numbers

Benefits of Using a UIFN

There are many benefits to getting a universal toll free number. Here are the top 3 reasons why you should get a UIFN.

1. Global Coverage: UIFN is available in 60 different countries, so if your business conducts operations globally, then a universal toll free number can make your business accessible in multiple countries through a single number.

2. One Number: Companies with multiple office locations or branches can easily benefit from a UIFN. For example, an international company with several branches, a small business with remote offices, or a university with global campuses. With a universal toll free number, you have one number that connects your entire business across the globe.

3. Easy to Advertise: Plus, it is much easier to advertise for one number instead of multiple numbers for the different locations you are targeting.

Universal International Freephone Numbers - UIFN Explained

Universal Toll Free Number Restrictions

While there are many UIFN benefits, the technology does have some important restrictions to note. The most important restriction to note is the list of countries where UIFN is available. The second major UIFN restriction is mobile-accessibility. Finally, subscribers should consider that dialing conventions may vary across countries.

Mobile Accessibility

Universal toll free numbers are only mobile-accessible in a handful of countries. In certain countries, the number cannot be reached at all from a mobile phone. This is really important to note because roughly one-in-five people only have cell phone service. You should consult with your customers to find out what percentage of them use mobile phones.

Dialing Conventions

While dialing conventions are pretty standard across the United States, dial-out conventions vary across UIFN countries. For example, certain countries require callers to dial 00 before the number, while other countries require 01. It can be difficult to communicate this information to customers.

In order to avoid irregular dialing conventions, we recommend that businesses properly communicate this information to their customers. This helps avoid any common problems associated with UIFN.

UIFN Country List

While it seems appealing to have a single number that works everywhere in the world, the reality is that not every country is involved in the ITU program. Here is a list of UIFN countries:

Argentina Australia Austria Belgium
Brazil Bulgaria Canada China
Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus
Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland
France French Guiana Germany Greece
Guadeloupe Hong Kong Hungary Iceland
Israel Italy Japan Korea South
Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macao
Macedonia Malaysia Malta Martinique
Mayotte Moldova Monaco Netherlands
New Zealand Norway Peru Philippines
Poland Portugal Reunion Romania
Saint Pierre & Miquelon Singapore Slovakia Slovenia
South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland
Taiwan Thailand United Kingdom Uruguay

For more wide global coverage and lower setup fees, you may consider our Toll Free FlexDial solution instead. Chat with our reps to learn more about this global toll-free number service or view FlexDial rates.

How to Dial a UIFN Number?

Now that you have a better understanding of how UIFN numbers work, let’s look at how to dial a UIFN number. A UIFN is formatted as a fixed 11-digit phone number. It starts with a 3-digit code to enable toll-free service, such as 800, assigned to them by the ITU. This is followed by an 8-digit global subscriber number (GSN). For example, +800 00123456, where 800 is the country code and 00123456 is the GSN. However, dial-out prefixes may need to be entered before dialing the UIFN to connect to the right business.

Customers from anywhere in the world can dial and call a UIFN number without being charged for the call. However, the format varies depending on which country is being called. The format generally is:

International access code (IAC) + 800 + 8-digit UIFN

And so, to successfully dial a UIFN number, customers need to know the appropriate international phone prefix. Then, they can add 800 and dial the rest of your UIFN number. Always confirm with your provider what your customers will need to dial to reach you.

As you can see, the process to dial a universal toll free number can be slightly complicated. Additionally, when dialing, customers may not recognize this number as a toll free number. They are typically more accustomed to 800 numbers or their national toll free number formats.

Sign Up For UIFN

UIFN or ITFS

You’ve probably already asked yourself which would be better for your company, UIFN or ITFS. While the concept of UIFN is great in principle, there are some drawbacks to be aware of.

  • UIFN coverage is limited and certain countries do not have mobile access.
  • In the countries where UIFN is available, callers must be aware of unique dialing conventions.
  • There is a high cost and lengthy setup time.

We have many customers that prefer ITFS numbers instead of UIFN because of the wider global coverage available through ITFS. In addition, ITFS numbers generally have much fewer restrictions and can be set up rather quickly. It should be determined on a case-by-case basis which option is better for your business.

Universal Coverage with UIFN Numbers

If you want to expand your business globally and work with customers from different countries, then getting a UIFN number is a good place to start. You could also purchase multiple local access numbers for a cheaper rate. Customers are more likely to dial local numbers instead of numbers they don’t recognize. For more information call 1 (561) 908-6171.

How to Set up a Virtual Phone System?

9th July 2020 blog, Cloud Telephony

Need to upgrade your business phone system? Thanks to advancements in telecommunications, a virtual phone system can help you organize and manage calls while expanding your reach. Follow these steps and set up your business communications quickly!

What is a Virtual Phone System?

In short, a virtual phone system is just like a traditional phone system, except that it works virtually. With such a system, you can run communications from any location or device. You are not limited to your immediate physical location. Additionally, since communications are virtual, you can connect with long-distance clientele more quickly and with lower calling charges.

A virtual or hosted phone system is made up of:

  • Virtual phone numbers such as toll free, local, and international numbers.
  • VoIP or PBX set-up.
  • Features such as call forwarding, call routing, IVR systems, extensions, call recording, and more.
  • Online account management.

With a virtual or cloud phone system, you can keep communications running no matter where you are located. Plus, it facilitates easy communication between remote offices and employees. To get a virtual phone system, you need to sign up with a virtual phone service provider. Here are key steps to keep in mind.

1. Determine Your Needs

Before getting a virtual phone system for business communications, you first need to determine what you need from your virtual phone system. What type of connections do you want to maintain: just local or international as well? Do you need multiple toll free and international numbers?

Consider the various features virtual phone service providers offer. What features would you like your communication system to have? Do you need to record calls or a dynamic caller ID to display custom caller IDs?

Finally, what is your budget and how high are you willing to go? There are countless providers out there but you need one that can accommodate all your requirements and still fit your budget.

2. Research Virtual Phone Service Providers

Once you have a good idea of what you want from your business virtual phone system, start researching the market. Review various virtual phone service providers, how long they’ve been in the market, their pricing and list of features, customer reviews, etc.

Global Call Forwarding has been in the business since 2007 and continues the legacy of its parent company, United World Telecom, established in 1996. Global Call Forwarding has been offering toll free, local, and international numbers to businesses through number hosting in more than 160 countries across the world. We also offer common and premium communication features such as call forwarding, IVR and extensions, call recording, outbound calling, and more. You can choose a plan suitable for your size and needs from our 5 plans.

3. Sign Up for the Service

Now, sign up for the provider that gives you everything you need at a price you desire. You can sign up for our service through our website or by calling 1 (877) 898 8646. Activate your service and start advertising your new number!

4. Set Up Call Forwarding

The main component of a virtual phone system is forwarding incoming calls to devices or lines of your choice. This is especially beneficial when receiving international or long-distance calls. To better explain, when you purchase an international or toll free number for a different country, residents of that country can call this number for local charges or for free. However, that call is routed through a call forwarding service to your office line, field office, or home office, as desired.

Therefore, if you purchase multiple numbers for different cities, states, and countries, then the first step is to map out how calls will be forwarded and where to. Route calls based on the location of the incoming call or the time the call is being made.

5. Set Up Features

Next, set up and organize the features you purchased. For example, create your custom greetings and voicemail messages. Map out and design your IVR system. If you have an outbound calling service, you may want to download the web dialer or outbound dialer that comes with your service and update it with current contacts and records. This way, you can start placing calls quickly.

6. Start Placing and Receiving Calls!

Now that everything is set up and ready to use, start making calls to local and international clients and prospects. And be prepared to offer excellent customer service to customers located in your target areas.

Get Your Virtual Phone System with Global Call Forwarding

Want to learn more about how we can help you build an ideal virtual business phone system? Reach out to one of our experts today and find customized solutions for your business!

5 Ways on How to Do a Winning Product Demo

30th June 2020 blog, Business Insights

A product demo goes a long way when trying to sell your business’ product or services. For some businesses, it can make or break the sale. And so, as a salesperson, you must do everything you can to make your product relevant to your prospect.

How to Do a Product Demo Successfully

A successful product demonstration includes describing the product well but also making it relevant and useful to the prospect. So, what do you need to keep in mind while preparing for a product demo? Here are some ways you can create a solid demo.

1. Study the Product Well

Nothing puts prospects off more than a salesperson who doesn’t know the product they are selling. To be able to sell during the product demo, you first need to know what the product is and how it can benefit your audience.

For instance, if you are selling a new version of a product or service, make sure you understand what comes with the new version before the demo. Pay attention to new features, technical details, and more. Essentially, be prepared for questions about the product or related processes.

2. Research Your Client

Every prospect is unique and has specific circumstances under which they are considering your product. Therefore, it is important that you are able to present your product or service as the ideal solution. To do that, you first need to know relevant information about your prospect. Do your research and study your client before the product demo.

Don’t just Google their name and skim their website. Understand their service, number of employees, size of the company, essential needs, and so on. Look through their LinkedIn page and social media accounts. Read their press releases, articles, interviews, and industry reports. You may even choose to see what their competitors are doing to see if you can help them achieve it.

There are plenty of helpful tools for salespeople to research potential customers.

3. Craft Your Offer, Rehearse, and Personalize

Once you have the right knowledge about the prospect, you can craft a personalized offer that is relevant to them. A successful sales demo not only demonstrates the product but highlights and identifies it as a solution to an existing problem. When creating your offer and product demo, consider these questions:

  • What are the prospect’s common challenges?
  • What are the main areas of concern in their industry?
  • Which features or sub-features of your product/service can solve their problem?
  • Are all features applicable and relevant? Which features should I pay more attention to?
  • What is the best way to describe the features? Can I use examples that are similar to the prospect’s situation?

4. Have a Plan (and a Plan B)

Plan out exactly how you want this product demonstration to go. Write down each point to cover. Map out the sequence of topics you want to bring up. Highlight portions you want to repeat or reinforce. Revisit and rehearse the plan a few times until you feel comfortable.

Create a plan B in case things don’t pan out the way you want them to. For instance, your internet or phone connection may not be good or your prospect may have to cancel. What can you do to continue this conversation? Have backup software or communication tools ready to go. In case the product demo gets rescheduled, have other activities that you can pour your energy into.

5. Make the Call Confidently

Finally, once you are ready to make your call, make sure that:

  • Your internet and VoIP phone service are strong.
  • Make sure your communication tool is working well.
  • Your microphone (and camera, if applicable) is on and works.
  • The software for the product demo is ready.
  • Your plan A and B are both readily available.
  • Keep relevant websites and tabs open.
  • Keep your CRM or notebook ready to take notes.

All Set to Create the Ultimate Demo

As a successful salesperson, it is your job to do the extra work that will give you better chances of making a sale. With all of this in place, you can confidently make the call and focus on giving an excellent product demo!

44 Industries That Need Great Customer Support (2025)

29th June 2020 blog, Customer Service

Customer support is essential for almost every business. This is because how you treat and serve your customers directly impacts customer satisfaction. And quality support helps you retain more valuable customers.

How to Offer the Best Customer Support

So, what are some ways your business can offer useful and relevant customer support?

  1. Hire the right people and train them well
  2. Focus on improving caller experience by understanding your target audience better
  3. Pay attention to the customer and adopt active listening
  4. Personalize and customize the customer experience
  5. Make yourself accessible by offering multi-channel communication (live chat, SMS, email, phone, etc.)
  6. Provide quick and easy solutions, and so on

Additionally, check out these helpful examples for quality customer support.

Related: 23 Incredible Customer Service Tips for 2025

Industries which Provide Excellent Customer Support

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) ranks businesses within their industry based on customer satisfaction and evaluation of goods and services. According to the ASCI, these are the industries which have been offering great customer support so far in 2025:

1. Cellular Telephones
2. Consumer shipping
3. Video streaming
4. Wireless telephones
5. US postal service

In 2019, the figures were different, with the following industries topping the list of excellent customer support. Companies in these industries must, therefore, continue focusing on strategies and methods that improve customer experience and increase customer satisfaction rates:

6. Breweries
7. Personal care and cleaning products
8. Food manufacturing
9. Television and video players
10. Soft drinks
11. Full-service restaurants
12. Internet investment
13. Internet retail
14. Household appliances
15. Life insurance
16. Banks
17. Cellular telephones
18. Financial advisors
19. Internet travel services

Industries that Need to Offer Better Customer Support

However, the following industries received low scores regarding customer satisfaction in 2019. Hence, companies in these industries must up their game and provide useful and resourceful customer service in 2020:

20. Internet search engines and information
21. Apparel
22. Internet news and opinion
23. Ambulatory care
24. Department and discount stores
25. Health and personal care stores
26. Cooperative energy utilities
27. Hotels
28. Wireless telephone service
29. Health insurance
30. Airlines
31. Gasoline stations
32. Municipal energy utilities
33. Investor-owned energy utilities
34. Hospitals
35. Internet social media
36. Fixed-Line telephone service
37. Video-on-demand service
38. Internet service providers
39. Subscription television services
40. Network/Cable TV news
41. Cigarettes
42. Newspapers
43. Pet food
44. Motion pictures

Companies Ranked for the Best Customer Service

Here is a list of companies with their industries that provided the best customer service in 2019, as compiled by ASCI:

Airlines:

  • Southwest
  • JetBlue

Automobiles:

  • Lexus
  • Daimler – Mercedes Benz
  • Toyota
  • Subaru

Cellular phones/Computers:

  • Apple

Consumer Shipping:

  • FedEx

Department & Discount Stores:

  • Costco

Digital Services (content & social media):

  • HubSpot
  • MailChimp
  • Buffer
  • Pollfish

Full-Service Restaurants:

  • Texas Roadhouse
  • Cracker Barrel

Furniture Stores:

  • IKEA

Household Appliances:

  • LG

Internet Retail:

  • Amazon
  • Shopify

Internet Search Engines:

  • Google

Life Insurance:

  • Thrivent Financial

Limited-Service Restaurant:

  • Chick-Fil-A

Specialty Retail:

  • L Brands

Supermarkets:

  • Trader Joe’s
  • Aldi
  • HEB Grocery
  • Publix
  • Wegmans Food Markets

Newsweek, with Statista Inc., has a different list of America’s Top 10 Best Customer Service 2020. This list was put together based on a few factors such as quality of communication, professional competence, range of services, customer focus, and accessibility:

  1. Disney Cruise Line
  2. Neiman Marcus
  3. The Ritz-Carlton
  4. Edward Jones
  5. Chick-fil-A
  6. L.L.Bean
  7. National Storage Affiliates
  8. Embassy Suites
  9. Publix
  10. Beau Coup

Start Showing Customers Your Care Today!

Customers need to know that they are being valued and they can count on your team if any problem arises. You must make it easy for them to connect with you and resolve their concerns quickly. As you improve your customer service and experience, you will notice a rise in customer satisfaction. After all, happy customers equal happy businesses!

9 Best Customer Service Examples for 2025

25th June 2020 blog, Customer Service

Customer care and support are essential as they can determine how well a company performs. If you are looking to upgrade your service, check these best customer service examples and give them a try!

Best Customer Service Companies for 2024

From small gestures to quick responses to individual care, customer support can go a long way in securing valued customers and clients. Here we list 11 best customer service examples of companies that try hard to offer quality customer care and please their valued customers.

1. Amazon.com

Amazon has risen tremendously in the past decade. Almost every individual uses Amazon to purchase gifts, household equipment, clothing, books, and more. In fact, users tend to look at Amazon first to get products that may not be available in any other physical or online retail store. Plus, the e-commerce giant is quick to offer refunds and even makes the return process easy with multiple drop-off locations. This makes Amazon one of the top customer service examples to model your support team after.

2. Google

Google, like Amazon, has grown into a service most people use on a daily basis. From its search engine to Google phones, Chromebooks, and apps, to marketing and advertising, Google is embedded in almost everything we do. It is, therefore, necessary that they pay attention to how we use the service. The company is extremely accessible via live chat, email, and phone. They even have an extensive forum for common issues and frequently asked questions. This helps users get quick answers to their concerns and resolve them successfully. They also offer deals and discounts (and at times, even gift products for free) to valued and loyal customers.

3. Chewy.com

Chewy has been steadily growing and earning its place in customers’ hearts. The key is to genuinely care about the pets and animals they are providing resources for. If a customer is unsatisfied with a product, they are quick to respond with a refund and possible solutions or alternatives. All the while keeping the interaction friendly and empathetic. With pets, it is often possible that you purchase a product that might not work out. Having a customer support team to right that wrong in the easiest way possible can be a huge load off your shoulders.

4. Publix

Publix is another top pick from great customer service examples because they’ve been voted the “South’s Best Grocery Store” and selected as one of “America’s Best Supermarkets,” both in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, Publix has continued to care for customers as well as their own employees. Employee satisfaction is an essential key to good customer service. If your employees are unhappy, how do you expect them to translate happiness to customers? Publix has this nailed down!

5. Starbucks

Starbucks pays great attention to details and uses that to meet exceptional customer service standards all over the world. Each type of drink is uniquely made with a precise pattern and ingredients that are easy to imitate elsewhere. From specialty drinks to cozy store designs to even their own music profile on Spotify for customers who care about music, Starbucks has been innovating in regards to customer care for years and continues to do so.

6. Chick-Fil-A

The customer service team at Chick-Fil-A is known for being professional and courteous. In fact, in 2016, they were rated the most polite employees for always including the magic words “please” and “thank you” in their interactions.

7. Aldi

Aldi has won many customers’ and shoppers’ hearts over the years with their low cost, high-quality items, and selection of produce. Even though the store is a supermarket, it creates a personal feel that appeals to customers of different sectors.

8. Costco Wholesale

Costco is a favorite all over the United States. Their low prices, top quality, bulk purchasing, easy policy, and free samples make them one of the best customer service examples, easily. And these factors are the reason why they receive loads of new members every year while retaining the ones they already have.

9. JetBlue

JetBlue is considered one of the top best customer service examples because they use small gestures to make their customers feel valued and cared for. In fact, in the 2019 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, this company was awarded the Top Customer Satisfaction Honor Among Low-Cost Carriers. From cheap cancellation fees to complimentary snacks, JetBlue makes an effort to take care of its customers and offer a worry-free service.

Why are These Customer Service Teams Successful?

The reason why these companies and businesses are mentioned in lists of top customer service examples is because they are doing something right. So, what are they doing well? These companies:

  • Are accessible through different channels.
  • Customize and personalize wherever applicable to make users feel special and involved.
  • Practice active listening and quick responses.
  • Study customer behavior and preferences in an attempt to serve better.
  • Provide self-service content and FAQs.
  • And are highly motivated to serve well.

Let us leave you with these questions to consider: Is your business trying to achieve these goals? Where do you see room for improvement? How can you enhance customer experience and service? What is the next step?

Related: 23 Incredible Customer Service Tips for 2025

6 Ways to Get People to Buy Your Product

25th June 2020 blog, Business Insights

Most sales reps constantly contemplate: how can you get people to buy your product? What can you do to quickly close a deal that you have been working on for weeks? How do you convince prospects who are on the fence to make a purchase? What efforts can you make to ensure sales go smoothly?

How to Get People to Buy Your Product

Even though it’s hard to close certain deals, part of being a successful sales rep means not giving up. So, what can you do to get people to buy your product? Here is a look at the most common hurdles to closing sales and how you can communicate clearly to ensure your products get noticed and ultimately, purchased.

1. Avoid Using Heavy Jargon

Overly technical language can easily put a customer off. Instead of using jargon or commonly used industry cliches, make it easy for your clients to understand what your product consists of, what the benefits are, and how they can apply it to their needs.

2. Focus on the Benefits of Your Product or Service

Most agents or reps tend to list down all the features that come along with a product or service. However, while clients are interested in what a product does, they also want to know what it means for them specifically. Understand their needs and business so you can demo your product as a solution that helps them.

3. Keep Them Engaged with Email Marketing

Use email marketing to educate and inform customers, not just to remind them of your business. Why are prospects hesitating from making purchases? Can you offer more information about the product or service your company provides? Use email to continue the conversation in a productive, informative way.

4. Emphasize How Your Brand is Unique and Different

Get a prospect to pay attention to your specific product and brand by demonstrating how it is unique and different from others offering similar or the same product. Generic benefits and features may convince a client to purchase, but it does not guarantee that they will buy it from you. So show them how your brand is separate from the others, offers better features or functions, and why it’s important in the industry.

For example, our sales reps spend a majority of their time explaining how our international toll-free numbers are quite different from services offered by other providers. A focus on differentiation will surely help convince more people to buy your products.

5. Use Testimonials and Case Studies to Demonstrate Success

Include reviews, testimonials, and case studies on your website and social media platforms. You should constantly be asking your best customers for testimonials. Highlight how customers have already used the product so new customers can visualize it and see how it works in action. Include statistics and hard data to support your claims.

6. Create a Sense of Urgency for Difficult Customers

Sales reps have to deal with customers who do not get off the fence. Even though they are solid and promising leads, they need ongoing convincing. So how can you increase the urgency without using high-pressure tactics? Short-term offers or deals with an expiration date can help close these deals while triggering them with immediacy.

Close the Deal!

Now that you know a variety of inside sales tactics to get people to buy your product, start implementing these methods into your strategy to improve your sales record. Be patient and find maneuvers that will help you enhance your efforts; using the right tools and strategy, you will be converting sales successfully.